It's April in the Midwest, which means springtime flowers will be blooming soon. For most people, the fragrance of those flowers is part of what makes spring special.
For more than 2.5 million Americans, flowers have no fragrance. For those of us living with anosmia, pleasant smells don't exist. No smells exist.
Anosmia - the lack of a sense of smell - is the invisible disability. The rest of you cannot tell by looking at me that I'm anosmic. And you can do nothing that will allow you to get a feel for what it's like to live with anosmia. Holding your nose won't do it.
Anosmics live daily with side effects the rest of you cannot experience, even for the short term. In addition to not smelling anything, most of us have little sense of taste, and what we have can be dramatically different from what you taste. We have phantom smells - odors our brains imagine that don't exist. The list of other side effects is considerable, including depression, weight gain and memory issues.
I've lived with anosmia for 18 years, since a bicycle accident that I can't remember. I intend to use this forum to begin sharing the challenges that anosmia creates, and eventually to help in the search for a partner in the creation of a new Anosmia Foundation to provide a source of information for anosmics, their families and their doctors.
